Himachal witnesses drop in NOTA votes

Navneet Rathore

Shimla, June 5

In the Lok Sabha elections, NOTA (None of the above) votes witnessed a slight decline in Himachal Pradesh. As many as 23,125 voters opted for NOTA this time, as compared to 33,008 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

As per the Election Commission of India, 6,372 voters preferred NOTA in Kangra, 5,930 in Shimla, 5,645 in Mandi and 5,178 in Hamirpur, which was the lowest in state.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 11,327 voters in Kangra, 8,357 in Shimla, 8,026 in Hamirpur and 5,298 in Mandi voted for NOTA, which had increased to 12,626 in the 2021 byelection.

In the Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidate from Kangar Rajiv Bhardwaj won the seat by a margin of 2.51 lakh votes by defeating Congress candidate Anand Sharma. This was the highest winning margin in the state, followed by Anurag Thakur, who won the Hamirpur seat by a margin of 1.82 lakh votes by defeating Congress candidate Satpal Raizada. BJP candidate Suresh Kashyap won the Shimla seat by a margin of 91,451 votes by defeating Congress candidate and sitting Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri. Kangana Ranaut won the Mandi seat by the lowest victory margin of 74,755 votes by defeating Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh.